A 6 Step Guide to Launching a Supply Chain Strategy
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SIX CRITICAL ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL SUPPLY CHAIN
To thrive in today’s transformative age, organisations should focus on creating a supply chain that operates as a holistic ecosystem. Supply chains that were once linear now take the form of a variety of connected partners.
Supply chain management software includes the coordination of the movement of goods and data from its starting point, through to the point of utilisation, as well as:
- providing a more efficient flow of information
- optimising supply chain management processes
- automating repetitive tasks.
As a result, this provides increased trust in relationships between partners within the value chain, customer satisfaction and increased opportunities for revenue generation.
TAKE A LOOK - COEUS SEP 3 MIN DEMO
Take a look at this three-minute demo of the industry leading Supplier Experience Portal - Coeus SEP.
INNOVATION & VALUE CREATION
The world is not getting any easier to transact effective business within. COVID-19 shone an extremely bright light on some of the challenges that seemed viable to navigate prior, but increasingly difficult to work around during and after.
It is fascinating, as we begin 2023, to reflect on these challenges over the last few years and assess how the leading organisations in the world have surmounted them, and, in some cases, exceeded expectations. Procurement, which previously focused primarily on cost control, is now looking towards innovation and value creation. This, in most cases, leads to a more strategic partnership with an organisation’s supply chain and more sophistication around operating models and digital technology.
Digital technology should not be seen as a replacement for in-person engagement and account management, but as a strategic deployment to enhance and supplement traditional methods. There is no need to choose between in-person, remote and digital self-service methods. We need to provide dynamism and agility, which can only be achieved with a hybrid solution set.
This is about:
- driving commercial compliance
- speed to market
- data visibility
- the ability to proactively respond to change “in the moment”, rather than reactively, one week later, when the opportunity has disappeared.
According to the Deloitte 2021 Global Chief Procurement Officer Survey, Chief Procurement Officers today need to:
“…exhibit a broad understanding of value, and deploy a wider, more sophisticated set of levers to unlock, measure and protect the value”.
| Leading Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) should focus on relationships and influence across functions and the supply market at the same time as: “investing in agility by developing talent and accessing capabilities, knowledge, and experience, leveraging on-demand, hybrid service delivery models”. |
Leading Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) should focus on relationships and influence across functions and the supply market at the same time as: “investing in agility by developing talent and accessing capabilities, knowledge, and experience, leveraging on-demand, hybrid service delivery models”.
DRIVE AGILITY AND DEVELOP EXCEPTIONAL SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE
Take a look at the secure, seamless analytics portal provided by Coeus BI
IN SUMMARY
- Procurement, which previously focused primarily on cost control, is now looking towards innovation and value creation.
- We need to provide dynamism and agility, which can only be achieved with a hybrid solution set.
- CPOs should focus on relationships and influence across functions and the supply market, as well as investing in agility.
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
What is increasingly clear is that to achieve a state of sophistication, there must be a much greater reliance on digital technologies. When organisations, whether large or small, look inward to their existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution stack for innovative delivery models, the conclusion most often realised is that:
- investment in their business-critical systems of record is not agile enough to handle the analytical needs of the supply chain, whether descriptive, predictive, or prescriptive
- investment in their business-critical systems of record is not able to be extended to suit the dynamism required
- full-suite solutions often fall short.
Best-of-breed Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) tools offer a potential solution, yet the overlap in functionality with existing systems of record is great. The implementation and, most importantly, integration of such systems has significant overheads, often for limited gain.
The observations we have made with our clients over time are that existing ERP systems are still very much fit for their primary purpose of:
- the internal management of enterprise processes
- transactional engagement with third party customers, suppliers and partners
Best-of-breed portal technologies can supplement this tooling and provide an effective return on investment, with a few provisos. These are as follows:
- 01 Connectivity and Integration
- 02 End-to-end Integration
- 03 Data Prioritisation
| When considering such tools, this is very much an area you should focus on in your discovery and assessment. No matter whether considering a fully featured supplier relationship management platform or a more straightforward portal technology, the scenario is identical. Data must be seamlessly connected and integrated into this technology, with negligible impact on source systems, and be configured to suit your requirements and the underlying system architecture |
DID YOU KNOW?
The Coeus Supplier Experience Portal provides data regarding your online channel performance in 60 seconds. To see the system in action, book a demo todayUser experience is critical as digital transformation, beyond an organisation’s four walls, is predicated on the uptake of users who may historically have:
- limited skills in data literacy
- an analytical mind-set
- are broadly out of your domain in the context of training and user adoption
IN SUMMARY
- The implementation and integration of SRM tools has significant overheads, often for limited gain.
- Many existing ERP systems are still very much fit for their primary purpose
- Best-of-breed portal technologies can usually supplement this tooling and provide an effective return on investment, with a few provisos.
SUPPLIER PORTALS - IT'S A MINEFIELD
Supplier Portal solutions in the market today can be broadly categorised into:
- Add-on modules for enterprise-scale ERP platforms, such as SAP or Oracle
- Highly specialised and often niche tools
| Niche software vendors provide tools and solutions for specification management, streamlining production processes, spend management, supplier onboarding, and eCommerce marketplace programmes. |
AN AFFORDABLE SUPPLIER PORTAL
Other tools have a supply chain specialism, but are low-code with drag-and-drop builders. These provide an emphasis on services engagements which are developed for your specific needs for enterprise clients. They tend to come at a remarkably high price, including:
- initial cost
- extremely lengthy development
- deployment engagements.
The Supplier Experience portal provided by Coeus BI enables you to see, within 60 seconds:
- Your promotional performance
- Invoice analysis for reconciliation
- Proactive stock availability
- Demand planning data exports
- Product performance comparisons
SCHEDULE A COEUS SEP DEMO
Book a demo today to see how it can help your organisation to improve the management and coordination of your supply chain.
IN SUMMARY
- Supplier Portal solutions can be categorised into add-on modules or niche tools.
- Niche tools tend to be used for specification management, streamlining production processes, spend management, supplier onboarding, and eCommerce marketplace programmes.
- Other tools have a supply chain specialism, providing an emphasis on services engagements and developed for your specific needs for enterprise clients but they are costly and take a lot of time to develop.
SUPPLIER PARTNERSHIP
Most of the Supplier Portal solutions sold today are portals predicated on providing insights and analysis of the performance of your suppliers: “for you”. They tend not to be: “supplier first”.
Forward-thinking CPOs today are driving operational efficiencies, digital transformation, and innovation directly to the door of their supply chain. This includes a more active stakeholder engagement and relationship management model, predicated on ensuring their supply chain is a fully connected extension of their own business. In order to achieve this, a Supply Portal should be:
- deployed for the supplier
- to the supplier
- primarily used by them (and this should be its primary purpose).
| Coeus’ clients are fully bought into this ideology. In some cases, the value seen, shown, and proven to their suppliers leads to a net new revenue stream for our clients, whereby suppliers are charged an annual subscription for the rights to access client data and analytics. This, in turn, drives supplier performance and partnership. |
Coeus’ clients are fully bought into this ideology. In some cases, the value seen, shown, and proven to their suppliers leads to a net new revenue stream for our clients, whereby suppliers are charged an annual subscription for the rights to access client data and analytics. This, in turn, drives supplier performance and partnership.
Wickes - Enabling suppliers to achieve 137% sales uplift week on week
Situation:
Wickes, an early adopter of the Coeus Supplier Experience Portal went live with their deployment just before the first wave of COVID-19.
Wickes is entering its third year of subscription, and continues to experience significant value across a large supply chain, deploying Coeus Supplier Experience to over 1500 end users as suppliers.
Results:
The best proof point to share is directly from a Wickes supplier, Akzo Nobel, who supply paint brands such as Dulux.
The Wickes portal provided:
- analytics of daily sales analysis
- split of sales by channel (online/store)
- visibility of distribution and weight of sales
This become invaluable for their business, enabling them to:
- forecast demand
- spot trends happening in near real-time
- rapidly respond to demand
- gain a more accurate understanding of minimum purchase quantities (MPQs) required on a per-store basis.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Uniquely, during the first wave of COVID-19, Akzo Nobel spotted trends in customer buying patterns so early in Wickes stores that production plans were changed on-the-fly.
- The primary demands had switched from interior paint to garden fence paint, and production geared up to satisfy this requirement.
- For a month, Wickes and Akzo Nobel capitalised on this customer behavioural shift, and Wickes was widely reported to be the only retail outlet that had not run out of fence paint and drove exceptional footfall through stores.
- Given that the Coeus Supplier Experience Portal provides Akzo Nobel with more accurate forecasting, this enabled them to identify a 50 SKU “priority list” of products that factories could focus production on, whilst minimising lost sales.
"Wickes vision is to share SKU-level data on sales, stock and accounts with suppliers daily to create a collaborative culture with relationships built on trust and partnering for success.
This gives us a triple win. A win for Wickes, a win for our suppliers, and most importantly, a win for our customers by helping us streamline our stock giving us a new level of dynamism.
Coeus helped us pivot during Covid-19, to streamline our stock, allowing us to achieve a 50% target of online click-and-collect, fueled by our supply chain transparency.
We can now forecast our stock much more effectively, and when we see issues, we can act on this insight rapidly. Before Coeus SEP, we were taking a weekly report of stock, and could only execute actions on this reactively."
Sam Betts,
Commercial Systems Manager - Wickes
WANT TO SEE THE VALUE THAT WICKES HAS?
The Coeus BI Supplier Portal can transform your supply chain, just as it did for Wickes. To see the system in action, book a demo today.IN SUMMARY
- Forward-thinking CPOs today are driving operational efficiencies, digital transformation, and innovation directly to the door of their supply chain.
- A Supply Portal should be deployed for the supplier, to the supplier and primarily used by them (and this should be its primary purpose).
- Wickes has seen invaluable results from utilising the Coeus Supplier Experience Portal, particularly in spotting and responding to trends in customer purchasing behaviours.
UNLOCK THE VALUE IN DATA
One of the keys to a successful implementation is recognising that not every one of your suppliers is at the same level of maturity. Those that are more mature will already be using advanced forecasting and demand planning tools. Some will approach their data challenges with automated machine learning and data science in general, but others will not.
"One thing organisations will undoubtedly continue to develop throughout 2023 is increasing the visibility of their whole end-to-end supply chain..."
Mark Holmes - Senior Adviser for Global Supply Chain, InterSystems
In cases where the maturity levels are lower, portals with forecasting and demand planning capabilities built-in:
1. Drive a shift in supplier performance
2. Provide a more “driven by data” partnership between you and your supply chain.
In these scenarios, your performance is improved by extending your data analysis and insights directly into their business. This will support an agile and insights-driven approach to business with you.
| Ensure that, when evaluating portals that provide data insights to your suppliers, that their data can be easily ingested and leveraged by their own “in-house” best practices. |
HOW CAN YOU ACHIEVE THIS?
The Supplier Experience Portal provided by Coeus BI will assist you with every element of a successful supply chain. Take a look at this three minute demo of the system in action.IN SUMMARY
- Not every one of your suppliers will be at the same level of data maturity.
- Those that are more mature will already be using advanced forecasting and demand planning tools.
- Where the maturity levels are lower, portals with forecasting and demand planning capabilities built-in will drive a shift in supplier performance and provide a more “driven by data” partnership between you and your supply chain.
COMPLIANCE AND RISK MANAGEMENT
| Of the capabilities outlined, the following two should be emphasised: 1. Highlighting process-orientated practices: sourcing criteria that address supply risk, for example. 2. Driving operational efficiency: the act of connecting, leveraging, and providing supply chain performance data directly to your suppliers should not be seen as a “one-way street”. This should be top of mind for global Chief Procurement Officers. |
1. Highlighting process-orientated practices: sourcing criteria that address supply risk, for example.
2. Driving operational efficiency: the act of connecting, leveraging, and providing supply chain performance data directly to your suppliers should not be seen as a “one-way street”. This should be top of mind for global Chief Procurement Officers.
Leading organisations are more able to confidently predict risk within their supply bases. The COVID-19 crisis brought into stark relief the need to better understand the end-to-end supplier network and to ensure that they have high visibility into their suppliers.
Early predictive warning of issues with the supply of goods is critical, but the challenge is far more nuanced than this. Examples beyond predictive stock-out scenarios or extended lead time impact should include:
- understanding risk in the context of financial stability
- brand damage
- failing to meet new requirements
- failing to meet records such as detailed supplier profiling
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance
- Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) targets.
Effectively predict risk with a secure and seamless analytics portal
Coeus BI has ensured that compliance and risk management challenges are fully addressed in its Supplier Experience Portal through the provision of:
- proactive stock availability
- online channel performance
- the ability to export data for demand planning
- product performance comparisons
What’s more, this data can all be accessed within 60 seconds.
The COVID-19 crisis highlighted the need to better understand the end-to-end supplier network and risks that exist beyond direct suppliers. This will be a critical capability to achieve agility.
SCHEDULE A COEUS SEP DEMO
To see the system in action, book a demo today.IN SUMMARY
- The top quartile of agile procurement organisations are deemed “agility masters”.
- This agility correlates with higher procurement performance and capabilities.
- Leading organisations are more able to confidently predict risk within their supply bases but there are wider challenges than this which need to be managed.
THE SIX CRITICAL ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL SUPPLY CHAIN - THE CONCLUSION
- The best supplier portals offer two-way interaction and communication and operational processing that cater for the collection, collation, and comprehension of your total supply chain performance, reduce errors, and simplify the recording and analysis of such data.
- Agile organisations must set up systems and processes to increase efficiency, unlock capacity and enable a scalable foundation at the same time as leveraging data to understand what is happening (descriptive), why it is happening (diagnostic) and what might happen next (predictive).
- Your goal should be simply to make better decisions, make them faster, and become more assured as you realise these with measurable outcomes in the modern data-driven world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marcus Adams is the Director of Strategy at Catalyst BI. Marcus has a passion for Data Analytics, Data Science and Data Management. He has a wealth of experience working in high performing software companies, solving business and data analytics challenges.
